Kaitlyn Dever and Beanie Feldstein are long time best friends, Amy and Molly (respectively), who are on the eve of graduating high school together when they realize maybe they did high school all wrong. When they discover their peers that they saw as party people and goof-offs have also gotten into respected colleges as well, Amy and Molly question whether they wasted their time in libraries and studying instead of having fun too. They decide before they graduate to basically cram four nights or partying into one night to make up for lost time by attending the biggest graduation party being thrown. The only problem is they don’t know where the party is which sets them out on a one crazy night type movie adventure encountering different characters and situations until they can finally get to party the way they envision.
This is a pretty damn near perfect movie for the debut of Olivia Wilde as a director. The casting is spot on, everything is lighted well, the shots work, it is well paced and a solid script. This is already at the top of my favorites of the year list, will it stay at the top? Probably not but I see this staying in the top five I am pretty positive about that. I had more fun in this movie than I have had in a long time I found myself laughing consistently throughout to reoccurring gags that pay off there are setups and with follow throughs that work. Kaitlyn Dever and Beanie Feldstein have tremendous onscreen chemistry together and the high school world we are presented feels lived in and alive. With having a high school teacher for a wife, I can definitely imagine her saying I have a kid just like each of the ones presented in this movie. The supporting cast all feel like well developed fleshed out characters and some come close to even stealing the scenes they are in. It is a little bit The Breakfast Club, a dash of Superbad and some Clueless all rolled into one. This is one that I would highly suggest seeing in theaters with an audience, I got to see this on opening night and the large audience helped to create an air of electricity in the room that heightened the overall experience. A truly wonderful debut from Olivia Wilde after the credits rolled I was reminded why I love movies the way Ido, that amidst
the remakes, sequels and franchises there is still amazing original stories that can find their way to the silver screen. A.
